They Called Her 'Machine Gun' - The Ship That Wouldn't Die | USS Helena's Story
Discover the incredible true story of USS Helena (CL-50), the legendary "Machine Gun Cruiser" that survived Pearl Harbor and became Japan's worst nightmare in the Pacific War. On December 7, 1941, a Japanese torpedo that should have sent Helena to the bottom instead awakened a sleeping giant's little sister. This documentary explores how one American light cruiser earned her fearsome nickname through rapid-fire vengeance, revolutionizing naval warfare with advanced radar technology and devastating 6-inch guns that fired so fast, Japanese sailors thought Americans had invented automatic cannons.
From the smoke-filled waters of Pearl Harbor to the hellish night battles at Cape Esperance and Guadalcanal, witness how Helena's 868-man crew turned tragedy into triumph. Experience the first American surface victory against the Imperial Japanese Navy, the brutal First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal where Helena's guns lit up the darkness like lightning, and her heroic final stand at Kula Gulf on July 6, 1943. Learn about the harrowing rescue of 700 survivors from shark-infested waters and enemy-held islands, and the 2018 discovery of her wreck 2,800 feet below the Solomon Islands.
This World War II naval history documentary features detailed battle analysis, crew stories, and explores how the Brooklyn-class cruiser's revolutionary SG radar and rapid-fire capabilities helped turn the tide of the Guadalcanal campaign. Using historical footage, maps, and expert narration, we honor the legacy of the ship that wouldn't die and the brave sailors who made her a legend.
#USSHelena #PearlHarbor #WWIIHistory #NavalHistory #Guadalcanal #PacificWar #MachineGunCruiser #WorldWarTwo #MilitaryHistory #NavalBattles #WWIIDocumentary #WarshipHistory #SolomonIslands #BattleOfGuadalcanal #AmericanHistory #NavyHistory #WWIIShips #HistoryDocumentary #MilitaryDocumentary #PearlHarborSurvivor
Discover the incredible true story of USS Helena (CL-50), the legendary "Machine Gun Cruiser" that survived Pearl Harbor and became Japan's worst nightmare in the Pacific War. On December 7, 1941, a Japanese torpedo that should have sent Helena to the bottom instead awakened a sleeping giant's little sister. This documentary explores how one American light cruiser earned her fearsome nickname through rapid-fire vengeance, revolutionizing naval warfare with advanced radar technology and devastating 6-inch guns that fired so fast, Japanese sailors thought Americans had invented automatic cannons.
From the smoke-filled waters of Pearl Harbor to the hellish night battles at Cape Esperance and Guadalcanal, witness how Helena's 868-man crew turned tragedy into triumph. Experience the first American surface victory against the Imperial Japanese Navy, the brutal First Naval Battle of Guadalcanal where Helena's guns lit up the darkness like lightning, and her heroic final stand at Kula Gulf on July 6, 1943. Learn about the harrowing rescue of 700 survivors from shark-infested waters and enemy-held islands, and the 2018 discovery of her wreck 2,800 feet below the Solomon Islands.
This World War II naval history documentary features detailed battle analysis, crew stories, and explores how the Brooklyn-class cruiser's revolutionary SG radar and rapid-fire capabilities helped turn the tide of the Guadalcanal campaign. Using historical footage, maps, and expert narration, we honor the legacy of the ship that wouldn't die and the brave sailors who made her a legend.
#USSHelena #PearlHarbor #WWIIHistory #NavalHistory #Guadalcanal #PacificWar #MachineGunCruiser #WorldWarTwo #MilitaryHistory #NavalBattles #WWIIDocumentary #WarshipHistory #SolomonIslands #BattleOfGuadalcanal #AmericanHistory #NavyHistory #WWIIShips #HistoryDocumentary #MilitaryDocumentary #PearlHarborSurvivor
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LearningTranscript
00:00In the dark waters off Guadalcanal, Japanese sailors spoke in hushed tones about an American
00:05cruiser that fired so fast, her guns sounded like machine guns tearing through fabric.
00:12They weren't wrong to fear her. USS Helena CL-50 would survive what should have killed her at Pearl
00:18Harbour, only to return with a vengeance that would reshape naval warfare in the Pacific.
00:24This is the story of the ship that refused to die, the cruiser that earned her nickname through
00:29sheer firepower, and the 1,000 men who made her legend possible. In an era when battleships were
00:36kings and carriers were the future, Helena proved that a light cruiser with determination could
00:42change the course of history. The story of USS Helena begins not in combat, but in the depths
00:48of the Great Depression. As America slowly rebuilt its economy, the Navy embarked on an ambitious
00:55program to modernize its aging fleet. The St. Louis-class cruisers represented a new philosophy
01:01in naval design, ships that could deliver overwhelming firepower while maintaining the
01:07speed to dance with death. When her keel touched the ways at Brooklyn Navy Yard on that cold December
01:13day in 1936, few could have imagined the destiny awaiting hull number 50. The workers who riveted her
01:21plates and shaped her armour were building more than a warship. They were crafting an instrument of
01:26survival and vengeance. Helena stretched 608 feet from stem to stern, her sleek hull cutting through
01:34water with a beam of just 61 feet. But her true glory lay in her armament. Fifteen six-inch guns nested in
01:42five triple turrets gave her a broadside that could unleash hell. These weren't ordinary naval rifles.
01:49The Mark 16 guns could cycle rounds at an astonishing rate. In perfect conditions, each barrel could spit
01:56out eight to ten rounds per minute. Do the math. That's potentially 150 shells per minute from her
02:03main battery alone. No wonder the Japanese would come to call her the machine gun cruiser. Her secondary
02:10battery packed eight five-inch dual-purpose guns, equally comfortable swatting aircraft or punishing destroyers.
02:16Four Parsons turbines drove her through the waves at 32.5 knots, fed by eight Babcock and Wilcox boilers that
02:25could push 100,000 horsepower through her four bronze screws. With a range of 10,000 nautical miles,
02:32she could hunt anywhere in the Pacific. But specifications tell only part of the story.
02:38What made Helena special was her crew, 868 officers and men who would transform steel and gunpowder into
02:46something approaching immortality. Helena slipped into the East River on August 27, 1938, christened by
02:54the wife of Montana's senator. The bottle of champagne that shattered across her bow was meant to bring
02:59good luck. Whether it did or not would depend on your definition of luck. Her early career reads like
03:06a peacetime travelogue. After commissioning in September 1939, Helena sailed south to Uruguay,
03:14where her crew got an ominous preview of their future. The wreckage of the German pocket battleship
03:19Graf Spee lay in Montevideo Harbour, scuttled after the Battle of the River Plate. Young American sailors
03:27stared at the twisted metal and wondered if they were looking at their own fate. The Pacific called and Helena
03:33answered. By September 1940, she joined the Pacific Fleet, spending months in Hawaiian waters perfecting
03:41her deadly art. Gunnery drills, damage control exercises, navigation training, the endless repetition
03:48that transforms civilians into warriors. As 1941 drew to a close, Helena entered Mare Island Navy Yard for
03:56upgrades. The Navy, perhaps sensing the storm approaching, fitted her with new 1.1-inch anti-aircraft
04:04guns. It was like giving a boxer brass knuckles just before a street fight. On the morning of December 7,
04:111941, Helena rested at berth 1010 in Pearl Harbour's Navy Yard. Across the harbour, battleships sat in a
04:19tidy row along Ford Island. The Pennsylvania, mighty queen of the battle line, was supposed to occupy
04:26Helena's berth. But fate had other plans. The dry dock needed Pennsylvania more than the pier needed Helena.
04:34At Aero 757, Lieutenant Commander Shigaharu Murata led nine Kate torpedo bombers toward what he believed was
04:42Pennsylvania. Through the early morning haze, Helena's profile looked enough like a battleship to seal her fate.
04:50Only the lead plane released its weapon, a Type 91 torpedo that carved through the harbour's placid waters at 40 knots.
04:59The weapon passed beneath the mine layer Oglala moored alongside and struck Helena at frame 75,
05:06just below her armour belt. The explosion ripped through her engineering spaces like a giant's fist.
05:12Engine room number one and boiler room number two transformed instantly from ordered machinery spaces
05:19into twisted metal coffins. Seawater rushed through a hole large enough to drive a truck through.
05:26But Helena was already fighting back. Within two minutes, 120 seconds, her forward diesel generator roared to
05:33life. Power flowed to her gun mounts. As Japanese planes wheeled overhead for their second attack,
05:40Helena's anti-aircraft guns spoke their defiance. Four bombs straddled her during the second wave,
05:47each near miss showering her decks with steel rain. The ship that should have died stayed afloat through
05:53miracles of damage control and human determination. Forty of her men lay dead, another hundred wounded,
06:00but Helena survived. In the wardroom, blood mixed with oil as medical teams worked to save the living.
06:07On deck, gunners stayed at their posts even as their shipmates fell around them. The Japanese pilots who
06:14reported her sinking made a terrible mistake. They had awakened a sleeping giant's little sister,
06:20and she would remember. In the aftermath of Pearl Harbor, Helena resembled a patient in intensive care.
06:28Water sloshed through her wounded hull and emergency pumps worked around the clock to keep her afloat.
06:34But beneath the damage lay a heart that refused to stop beating. By December 9th, just two days after the
06:41attack, Helena limped into dry dock number two. Navy yard workers swarmed over her like surgeons attending
06:48a critical patient. Steel plates were cut, shaped, and welded over her wounds. The temporary patches
06:55would hold until she could reach a proper hospital. The journey to Mare Island in January 1942 tested every
07:02weld and rivet. Pacific swells pressed against her patched hull, searching for weakness.
07:08Her crew stood vigilant at damage control stations, ready to shore up any breach. They needn't have
07:15worried. Helena was tougher than she looked. At Mare Island, Helena underwent a transformation that went
07:22beyond mere repair. The Navy had learned bitter lessons at Pearl Harbor, and Helena would benefit from
07:28that brutal education. Her conning tower, which limited visibility during night actions, gave way to
07:35an open bridge. Where antiquated 1.1-inch Chicago pianos once stood, crews mounted four quadruple 40mm Bofors
07:45guns, Swedish-designed democracy wrapped in American steel. But the real revolution came in electronics.
07:54Helena received the new SG surface-search radar, a marvel that could peer through darkness and fog to find
08:01enemy ships at ranges that seemed like sorcery. Combined with new FC and FD fire control radars,
08:08Helena could fight blind, a crucial advantage in the knife fights awaiting her in the Solomons.
08:15While darkness helped conceal ships from visual spotting, radar gave Helena the ability to see without
08:21being seen. Under Captain Robert H. English, then Captain Philip, who commanded until September 1942,
08:30her crew trained with fanatic intensity. They had accounts to settle. Gunners drilled until they could
08:36load and fire in their sleep. Damage control teams practiced plugging holes and fighting fires until their
08:43responses became automatic. Every man aboard understood their mission. They were returning to the Pacific,
08:50not as victims, but as hunters. In the mess halls, sailors spoke of revenge. In the engine rooms,
08:58mechanics coaxed every possible revolution from the turbines. Helena wasn't just repaired. She was
09:04reborn as an instrument of vengeance. By July 1942, Helena was ready. As she passed beneath the Golden
09:13Gate Bridge, bound for the South Pacific, her crew lined the rail. Some waved at girlfriends and
09:20wives on shore. Others stared westward toward the enemy who had drawn first blood.
09:26The machine gun cruiser was heading to war. The Solomon Islands in late 1942 were a green hell where
09:33America and Japan bled for every yard of jungle. Guadalcanal, with its crucial airfield, had become
09:40the Pacific War's grinding wheel. Every night, Japanese destroyers and cruisers raced down the slot,
09:47the channel between the Solomon chains, to reinforce their garrison and bombard American positions.
09:54By early October, Helena served in Task Force 64 under Rear Admiral Norman Scott. Unlike many
10:01American admirals who still thought in terms of battleship lines, Scott understood that radar and
10:07rapid fire would rule these waters. He drilled his ships relentlessly in night combat tactics,
10:13though he made the curious decision to use USS San Francisco as his flagship instead of the radar-equipped
10:19Helena. October 11, 1942. The day of reckoning approached as American reconnaissance planes spotted Admiral
10:28Aritomo Goto's force streaming toward Guadalcanal. Three heavy cruisers and two destroyers carrying
10:34reinforcements and bombardment shells. Scott positioned his force off Cape Esperance, ready to spring history's
10:42trap. As darkness fell, Helena's SG radar operator, radio man third class Robert S. Brown, hunched over
10:51his scope. At 2325, a phosphorescent blip appeared. Enemy ships at 27,700 yards. Helena had found the
11:02Japanese before they even knew Americans were hunting. What followed was organized chaos. Scott, operating
11:09blind on San Francisco, ordered a column turn that accidentally placed his force across the
11:14Japanese T, the perfect position for a naval ambush. On Helena's bridge, Captain Gilbert C. Hoover, who had
11:23assumed command in September, grew increasingly frustrated. His radar showed enemy ships at 5,000 yards,
11:30practically point-blank range, but Scott hadn't given permission to fire. Finally, at 2346, Scott's ambiguous
11:39Roger to another query was interpreted as permission to engage. Helena's turrets, already trained on the
11:47enemy, erupted in violence. The first salvo caught the heavy cruiser Ayoba completely unprepared. Six-inch
11:54shells slammed into her bridge, killing Admiral Goto instantly and wounding her captain. The Japanese
12:02Admiral died believing his own ships were firing on him. He never imagined Americans could strike from
12:07the darkness with such precision. Helena's guns achieved rates of fire that seemed impossible. Spent
12:14brass casings rolled across her decks like golden rain as loaders worked in perfect synchronization.
12:20The sustained muzzle flashes lit up the night, earning her the nickname that would follow her to the grave.
12:28The heavy cruiser Furutaka tried to shield the flagship but sailed into a steel hurricane.
12:34Helena's shells found her torpedo tubes, and Long Lance torpedoes, Japan's most feared weapon, exploded on
12:42their own deck. Furutaka burned like a Viking funeral ship before sliding beneath the black waters.
12:49In 14 minutes, it was over. Helena had fired over 1,400 rounds, her barrels glowing cherry red in the
12:56darkness. The Battle of Cape Esperance was America's first clear surface victory against the Imperial Navy.
13:04Helena had proven that American cruisers could fight and win at night, the enemy's chosen battlefield.
13:12As dawn broke, oil slicks and debris marked where Japanese ships had died. Helena's crew,
13:18exhausted but exhilarated, had their first taste of victory. It wouldn't be their last.
13:25November 1942 brought desperation to both sides at Guadalcanal. The Japanese prepared a massive
13:32reinforcement convoy, and Admiral Scott's victorious task force, now led by Rear Admiral Daniel Callahan,
13:39stood as the only barrier. Callahan, brave but inexperienced in night combat, made the same
13:46mistake as Scott. He chose San Francisco as his flagship instead of the radar-equipped Helena.
13:52On the night of November 12, 13, Helena's radar again proved prophetic. At Aero 124, her SG scope detected
14:02Japanese ships entering Iron Bottom Sound, the waters off Guadalcanal littered with so many wrecks they'd
14:09earned their grim nickname. Two Japanese battleships, Hiei and Kirishima, led a bombardment force intended to
14:17pulverize Henderson Field. What erupted at 0148 was less a battle than a bar fight with 14-inch guns.
14:25The American column practically collided with the Japanese force. Ships fired at point-blank range,
14:31sometimes unsure whether their targets were friend or foe. Searchlights stabbed through the darkness,
14:38star shells burst overhead, and tracers criss-crossed like deadly fireworks. Helena's radar gave her a
14:45critical edge in this melee. While other ships struggled to identify targets, her fire control
14:51tracked Japanese vessels with electronic precision. She opened fire on what her crew believed was a
14:57battleship, likely Hiei, at just 4200 yards. Her rapid-fire salvos walked up and down the enemy's length,
15:05sparking fires and explosions. The destroyer Akatsuki made the fatal error of illuminating
15:12Helena with her searchlight. Every American ship that could bear immediately concentrated on the
15:18illuminated destroyer. Helena's six-inch shells joined five-inch and eight-inch rounds in a
15:24convergence of naval gunfire that literally blew Akatsuki apart. She vanished in a massive explosion,
15:31taking all but a handful of her crew with her. Helena then shifted to rapid-fire against three more
15:37destroyers, her guns cycling so fast that Japanese survivors reported thinking Americans had developed
15:44a new automatic cannon. One destroyer limped away burning, another went dead in the water,
15:50and the third fled into the darkness trailing smoke. Through it all, Helena danced between salvos,
15:57her engineers pushing her turbines to and past their limits. At one point, San Francisco crossed directly
16:05between Helena and her target, forcing a Czech fire that probably saved American lives. The friendly
16:11fire incidents that night claimed Admiral Callahan and Captain Cassin Young of San Francisco, brave men killed
16:18by American shells in the confusion. After 40 minutes of point-blank savagery, the Japanese withdrew.
16:27Hiei, battered by dozens of hits including many from Helena, lingered behind with jammed rudders.
16:33American planes would finish her the next morning, the first Japanese battleship lost in the war.
16:41Helena emerged with one man dead and minor damage. Her gunners had fired over 1,500 rounds,
16:48and her barrels were shot out from the sustained fire. But she had helped stop the Tokyo Express cold.
16:55Without that bombardment, Henderson Field survived to launch the planes that would savage Japanese
17:01transports over the coming days. As November 13 dawned, Iron Bottom Sound lived up to its name with
17:07new wrecks littering the seafloor. Helena had proven herself again, but the cost grew steeper with each
17:14battle. Between the legendary battles, Helena lived a grinding routine that tested men as thoroughly as
17:20combat. The Solomon Islands offered no respite. If Japanese shells didn't kill you, tropical diseases might.
17:27Helena's crew developed the thousand-yard stare common to Guadalcanal veterans, men aged beyond
17:35their years by constant vigilance. Life aboard Helena followed the rhythm of war. General quarters at dawn
17:43and dusk when submarines preferred to attack. Days spent bombarding Japanese positions on Guadalcanal,
17:50turning jungle strongpoints into moonscapes. Knights patrolling the slot, radar operators straining to
17:58catch the first glimpse of enemy vessels. The crew developed their own culture, born of shared danger.
18:05Helena's laundry became legendary, somehow maintaining pressed uniforms even after battle.
18:11The ship's band, Helena's Hottentots, played swing music on deck between actions,
18:16their jazzy renditions of blues in the night, carrying across the water to other ships.
18:21Food was whatever the supply ships brought. Spam, powdered eggs, and coffee strong enough to float a wrench.
18:28Fresh vegetables were memories. The ice cream maker, when it worked, produced the most valuable commodity
18:35in the South Pacific. Men would trade almost anything for a Dixie cup of vanilla.
18:40Captain Hoover proved a steady hand during his tenure. Unlike glory-seeking officers,
18:47he understood that survival meant victory in these waters. He drilled his crew constantly,
18:52but also knew when to ease the pressure. Movie nights on the fantail, boxing matches on the forecastle,
18:59small pleasures that reminded men what they were fighting for. The November 23rd relief of Captain
19:05Hoover for failing to adequately report the torpedoing of USS Juno struck the crew hard. They had just
19:12fought through hell together, and now their skipper was gone over what many saw as a bureaucratic vendetta.
19:19His replacement, Captain Charles P. Cecil, who assumed command in December 1942, had to win over a
19:26suspicious crew. Cecil would lead them through their final battles. December 1942 and January 1943 blurred together
19:36in routine and exhaustion. Helena bombarded Vila and Munda, supported troop convoys, and chased ghosts on radar screens.
19:46Her crew became experts at reading the sea and sky, knowing that survival often depended on spotting the torpedo wake
19:53or bomb release a second before the other guy. By February 1943, Helena desperately needed yard
20:00time. Her engines wheezed, her guns showed worn rifling, and her hull bore the scars of near misses.
20:08The voyage to Sydney, Australia, felt like sailing to paradise. Fresh food, cold beer, and women who spoke
20:14English awaited. For a few precious weeks, Helena's men remembered what peace felt like. But wars don't
20:22pause for liberty. By April, Helena was back in the Solomons, her guns refreshed and her crew rested.
20:29The next phase of the island campaign beckoned, and the nightly runs down the slot continued.
20:35The machine gun cruiser had more work to do.
20:37As spring 1943 turned to summer, American forces prepared to leap up the Solomon chain.
20:46New Georgia, with its airfield at Munda, represented the next bloody step toward Tokyo.
20:52Helena would play her part in preliminary bombardments that turned Japanese positions into rubble.
20:57The routine had become deadly familiar. Slip into contested waters under darkness,
21:03Pummel assigned targets, and escape before dawn brought retribution.
21:08On May 13, Helena led a bombardment group against Vela, her shells walking through fuel dumps and
21:15barracks with methodical precision. The Japanese, learning from experience, had moved most assets
21:21inland, but Helena's guns still found plenty to destroy. June 1943 brought intensified operations.
21:29Intelligence reported massive Japanese reinforcement efforts, and every American cruiser worked overtime
21:36to interdict these movements. Helena's crew, veterans now, prepared their ship with grim efficiency.
21:44Extra ammunition came aboard until her magazines bulged. Damage control materials were pre-positioned.
21:51Men wrote letters home just in case. On June 30, Operation Toenails, the invasion of New Georgia,
21:58began. Helena provided fire support for the landings at Rendover, her six-inch shells clearing jungle in
22:05100-yard swaths. Japanese shore batteries replied sporadically, their splashes walking toward Helena
22:13until counter-battery fire silenced them. July 4, 1943, Independence Day, found Helena bombarding Munda
22:21airfield. The Japanese had reinforced their anti-aircraft positions, and black puffs of flak dotted the sky.
22:29Helena's anti-aircraft guns replied, their 40-militator rounds creating their own fireworks display.
22:36It was democracy versus fascism, traced in tracer rounds. That evening, Helena refuelled at Tulagi,
22:43taking on oil and ammunition for another night's work. Intelligence had spotted another Tokyo Express run,
22:49destroyers racing south with reinforcements for New Georgia. Task Force 68, with Helena as a key
22:56component, would intercept them in Kula Gulf. The crew sensed something different about this mission.
23:04Maybe it was the full moon predicted for that night, eliminating the darkness that usually concealed
23:10American ships from visual spotting, though their radar would work just as well. Perhaps it was the
23:16reports of Japanese heavy cruisers joining the convoy runs. Or maybe it was just the law of averages
23:22catching up. Helena had survived too many battles without serious damage. As July 5 became July 6,
23:30Helena entered Kula Gulf for the last time. Her radar operators, the best in the fleet, would spot the
23:36enemy first, as always. Her guns would speak with their characteristic rapid fury. But this time,
23:44the enemy would punch back with a vengeance that even the machine gun cruiser couldn't survive.
23:50The moon rose over Kula Gulf like a spotlight, turning the black waters silver and robbing the
23:56Americans of the concealment darkness usually provided. Admiral Walden Ainsworth, flying his flag in
24:03Honolulu, led Task Force 68 into the Gulf just after midnight on July 6, 1943.
24:09Helena followed in column, her radar already painting contacts to the northwest. The Japanese
24:16had learned from their previous encounters. Admiral Teruo Akiyama's reinforcement group
24:22included 10 destroyers armed with the deadly Type 93 Long Lance torpedoes, weapons that could reach out
24:2920,000 yards at 49 knots. More critically, the Japanese had finally developed tactics to counter American
24:37radar advantages. At 0136, Helena's radar detected the enemy at 22,000 yards. For once, the Japanese
24:47radar operators matched American detection, spotting Task Force 68 almost simultaneously. Both sides began
24:55their deadly approach, knowing this would be a gunfight where speed mattered more than armor.
24:59At Eero 157, Admiral Ainsworth ordered the attack. Helena's turrets, already tracking their targets, erupted
25:07immediately. Her first salvos targeted the destroyer Niyazuki, Admiral Akiyama's flagship. The range was 11,000
25:16yards, comfortable for Helena's experienced gun crews. Niyazuki never had a chance. Helena's second
25:23salvo found her, and the following salvos turned the destroyer into a floating pyre. Six-inch shells detonated
25:30her torpedo warheads, shattered her bridge, and opened her hull like a can opener. Admiral Akiyama died in
25:38the opening minutes, his last sight the muzzle flashes that spelled his doom. But even as Niyazuki died,
25:46her sisters had launched their long lances. Ten destroyers fired volleys of torpedoes before turning
25:52away at high speed, a tactic that traded gunfire for torpedo accuracy. Nearly fifty torpedoes now
25:59raced through Kula Gulf's waters toward the American column. Helena shifted fire to the destroyer
26:05Suzukaze, her radar-directed shells finding the target despite the range. But she had made a critical
26:12error. Her initial salvos used flashless powder, carefully hoarded for night actions. When those
26:19special charges ran out, she switched to standard propellant. Each salvo now lit up the night like
26:26lightning, clearly marking Helena's position for Japanese torpedo directors. At Aero 203, Helena's
26:34luck ran out. Three long lances found her in quick succession, and the machine gun cruiser's death began.
26:40The first torpedo struck forward of Turret 1. The explosion was catastrophic. Either her forward
26:48magazine detonated, or the torpedo's 1,080-pound warhead simply obliterated her bow. Turret 1 vanished
26:56in a pillar of flame that reached 200 feet skyward. The blast rolled through the ship, buckling bulkheads
27:03and throwing men against steel walls like rag dolls. Before damage control could respond,
27:09the second and third torpedoes struck amidships below her armour belt. These hits broke Helena's keel,
27:16the ship's backbone. Her engine rooms flooded instantly, turbines screaming to a stop as seawater
27:22rushed in. Electrical power failed, plunging internal compartments into darkness broken only by battle
27:29lanterns and flames. Captain Cecil immediately recognised the fatal nature of Helena's wounds. With her keel
27:36broken, the ship was already beginning to jackknife. He passed the order all captains dread. Abandon ship.
27:45But Helena's gunners weren't finished. Even as she settled, her aft turrets continued firing,
27:52their crews refusing to leave their posts until the last possible moment. Turret 4 fired until seawater
27:58flooded the handling rooms. Turret 5's crew manually trained their guns, firing until the list became
28:05too severe to elevate their barrels. The ship broke into three sections. The bow section, everything
28:11forward of Turret 2, had already vanished. The stern section, containing nearly 400 men, floated
28:18independently. The centre section, containing the bridge and most of the engineering spaces, rolled over and
28:24sank within minutes. Men struggled in the oil-covered water, some wounded, all shocked by the sudden
28:31transition from combat to survival. The destroyer Nicholas, risking torpedo attack, moved in to rescue
28:39survivors. Her crew pulled exhausted men aboard while her guns engaged Japanese destroyers trying to
28:46finish off Helena's survivors. Dawn on July 6th found Kula Gulf littered with the debris of battle,
28:53and nearly 500 Helena survivors still in the water. The bow and stern sections remained afloat,
28:59serving as temporary life rafts for hundreds of men. But Japanese aircraft would arrive with daylight,
29:06and Admiral Ainsworth faced an agonising decision. Nicholas and Radford had pulled 739 men from the
29:13water during the night, their crews forming human chains to haul oil-soaked survivors aboard. But radar
29:20showed Japanese warships still in the area, and dawn meant certain air attack. Ainsworth ordered his
29:27ships to withdraw, leaving hundreds of Helena's crew behind. For the men still in the water,
29:33July 6th became a test of endurance and will. The tropical sun burned exposed skin, while saltwater
29:41tortured wounds. Sharks, drawn by blood, circled the survivors. Men formed groups supporting the
29:48wounded and sharing the few life rafts available. On Helena's floating stern section, Lieutenant Commander
29:56John L. Chew organised the survivors. The stern still had some food and water, plus medical supplies.
30:03Chew established watches, rationed supplies, and maintained discipline.
30:08When Japanese floatplanes strafed the survivors, men dove beneath the twisted steel for cover.
30:15That night, two American destroyers attempted a rescue but were driven off by Japanese warships.
30:21The survivors spent another night clinging to wreckage, their numbers diminishing as wounded
30:26men slipped away and sharks took their toll. The story might have ended there, but for Coast
30:32watcher Reverend A. W. E. Sylvester on Vela La Vela Island. He reported the survivors' location and
30:39coordinated with local natives to guide rescue efforts. On the night of July 7th or 8th,
30:45destroyers Nicholas and Jenkins, along with fast transports, dent and waters, returned to Kula Gulf.
30:52Using whale boats and rubber rafts, they pulled 165 men from the water and the floating stern section.
30:59The stern finally sank during the rescue, as if Helena had waited to ensure her crew was safe before
31:06taking her final plunge. But 88 survivors had drifted to Japanese-held Vela La Vela.
31:12For a week, they evaded enemy patrols with help from native scouts and Coast Watchers.
31:18Living on coconuts and rainwater, moving only at night, they made their way to the island's northwest coast.
31:24On July 16th, destroyers Taylor, Maury, Gridley and Ralph Talbot executed a daring daylight rescue,
31:33evacuating the last of Helena's survivors under the noses of Japanese forces.
31:39The final tally, of Helena's crew of 868, some 168 men died in Kula Gulf or during the rescue operations.
31:47But 700 survived, saved by the courage of destroyer crews who risked everything and the determination of
31:55survivors who refused to give up. Helena's story could have ended in Kula Gulf, another casualty in
32:02the grinding Solomon Islands campaign. But legends don't die easily. In Navy wardrooms and enlisted clubs,
32:10veterans told stories of the cruiser that fired faster than any ship had a right to.
32:15Her rapid-fire barrages became the stuff of mythology, growing with each retelling.
32:21The Navy recognised Helena's extraordinary service with seven battle stars and the first-ever
32:27Navy unit commendation awarded to a ship. The citations specifically mentioned Cape
32:33Esperance, Guadalcanal and Kula Gulf, three battles where Helena's guns helped
32:38turn the tide of the Pacific War. Her influence extended beyond medals.
32:43Helena's combat experiences drove changes in American naval tactics and technology.
32:49Her successful use of radar in night battles became standard doctrine.
32:54The importance of flashless powder was written in blood.
32:57Damage control procedures were revised based on her loss.
33:01For decades, Helena rested undisturbed in Kula Gulf, her exact location unknown.
33:08Her survivors held reunions, their numbers dwindling each year but their memories still sharp.
33:14They remembered the sound of her guns, the feel of her deck plates, the friends who didn't make it home.
33:21In April 2018, Paul Allen's research vessel RV Petrel located Helena in 2,800 feet of water.
33:29The remote cameras revealed her hull number, 50, still visible on her stern.
33:34Her turrets remained trained out, as if ready to resume the fight.
33:40The discovery brought closure to surviving crew members and their families, confirming their ship's final resting place.
33:47Today, Helena serves as more than a war grave.
33:50She represents the thousands of sailors who fought the decisive naval battles of World War II.
33:57Her story teaches timeless lessons about courage, determination and sacrifice.
34:03The ship that survived Pearl Harbor to become the scourge of the Tokyo Express proved that heroes aren't always invincible.
34:10Sometimes they're simply too stubborn to quit.
34:13From her birth in Depression-era Brooklyn, to her death in the tropical waters of the Solomons, Helena embodied the American war effort.
34:23Built by workers who needed jobs, crewed by boys who became men, and commanded by officers learning to fight a new kind of war, she was democracy made steel.
34:33The Japanese were right to fear the ship they called the machine gun cruiser.
34:38But Helena was more than rapid-firing guns and advanced radar.
34:43She was 868 Americans who refused to accept defeat, who turned tragedy at Pearl Harbor into triumph at Cape Esperance and Guadalcanal.
34:53Even in death, she extracted a price, her guns firing until the water claimed them.
34:58In the depths of cooler gulf, Helena keeps her last watch.
35:03Coral grows on her turrets, fish swim through her passages, but her legacy lives on.
35:08She remains what she always was, the fighting ship that earned her nickname through sheer determination, and a testament to the generation that saved the world.
35:18They called her machine gun, and she lived up to her name until the very end.
35:23In the annals of naval history, few ships fought harder, died better, or left a prouder legacy than USS Helena CL-50.
35:33She was, as her crew always knew, one hell of a fighting ship.
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